


The One That Saves Me

by kitarin



Category: Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-03-15
Updated: 2012-03-15
Packaged: 2017-11-15 04:49:28
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/523319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kitarin/pseuds/kitarin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A take-off on episodes 11&12... how Marvelous & Joe became partners, friends and something more.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The One That Saves Me

**Author's Note:**

> The first chapter isn't explicit, but later ones will be. This one is entirely for my Joe. <3

_It’s because it’s him and me. It was destined… from the moment we met…_

*******

_o/~ I walk a lonely road_  
The only one that I have ever known  
Don't know where it goes  
But it's home to me and I walk alone ~/o 

“So… this planet was also destroyed by Zangyack?”

The captain of the Gokai Galleon looks out over the scorched and smoldering desert of yet another devastated world, the wind ruffling his dark hair, until his eyes catch on an unusual sight. 

“Show no mercy to the traitor! Catch him!”

The tinny Zangyack voices echo across the craggy ground as they chase their intended victim, and then, several Goumin go flying, revealing a boy at the center of the fray. He grasps a sword firmly in each hand, whirling and slashing, cutting down his enemies with precise and unrelenting grace.

_He’s beautiful._

“Who is he?” The captain muses out loud to himself, as he has started to do too frequently after endless weeks in space with nothing but a damn _bird_ for a companion. “He’s pretty good.” Even as these words slip out, the boy in question is being tossed forward by an explosion, his swords jarred out of his hands, and without really thinking about it, the captain strides purposefully towards him.

The ex-soldier hits the ground with a grunt, tasting blood and dirt and disgust, but there is no way that he’s giving up. Struggling, he stretches out towards a blade, inches out of reach, then startles when his ears ring with the sound of rapid gunfire. Lifting his eyes, he can hardly believe the sight before him – the swish of red fabric in the wind, the expert slice of a sword, and suddenly, he’s looking up into the eyes of destiny – if he believed in such a thing.

“What a sight to see between fellow Zangyack members,” the captain looks down at the ex-soldier, who stares back at him in battle-weary shock. With a flip of his sword, he knocks the boy’s blade back into reach. “I’ll lend you a hand.”

Staggering to his feet, pride still intact, the ex-soldier gives a soft “heh,” of amused disbelief. “A space pirate?” The other boy is very nearly the same height, as they stand shoulder-to-shoulder and eye-to-eye. Still, there’s something in his presence that makes him seem larger than he is somehow and... _What could he possibly want with me?_ “You won’t get any money out of saving me, you know.”

“Don’t want that.” The captain looks his find up and down, searching for the real boy underneath the awful armor, and he can’t even seem to help the hint of a smirk that creeps onto his face. _Maybe the damn bird was right after all… blue diamond in a coal mine._ “What I want…” The pirate flips his sword back up onto his shoulder with showy confidence. “Is You.”

The escapee is speechless, his disbelief growing, but that smirk runs straight down his spine and he finds himself moving anyway, turning as Red slices into the enemies again. There’s only time for instinct and intuition and the desperate desire to make it out of this alive.

Back to back, the captain feels the battle-warmth of the other for the first time and the haunting sense of finally being in the right place at the right time. His heart is racing with something he can’t quite put a name to… a little like falling off that cliff on the last planet, only to “accidentally” find another ranger key… _Yes, this is what I’ve been searching for… I know it._ “Heh,” the captain tosses over his right shoulder towards his second-in-command.

“Hmph,” the other gives it right back to him, gratitude and yet, bravado, as if even in this predicament, he refuses to give up knowledge of his self-worth.

They move seamlessly, no words necessary, and with only a glance, the captain is rolling over his second’s back, as if they’ve already fought together a million times before. Guarding each other every step of the way, they cut through the ranks in minutes, leveling the enemies until they are finally alone.

“Come on,” the captain urges, and starts off at a run, with no doubt the other will follow. He doesn’t even feel the need to ask, all intuition.

The pace is swift, but before long, they are a good distance away from the encounter and the captain slows, turning around until he is walking backwards, staring the other boy down speculatively.

“What?” the other starts to ask, but then his eyes widen as the weapons in the pirate’s hands vanish, and they both come to an abrupt stop. _What just happened?_

“I like your ability with a sword,” the captain grins, unable to help giving in to his elated feelings. _Someone as alone as I am… an obviously talented swordsman…_ And inside his own head, he can also admit… _with the most beautiful face I’ve ever seen._ “And that look in your eyes.”

 _Is he… flirting with me?_ Pinned by the captain’s grin as much as his words, the second gives a vaguely embarrassed “heh” again, finding that he doesn’t really mind the intensity of the look from this stranger who just saved his life. For that act alone, he at least owes the other boy honesty, and really, he feels more than a little delirious right now. “You’ll probably change your mind when you take a look at my neck.” His left hand rises to lift the collar with one thumb. “This is an emitter…” he starts, watching as the captain studies it thoughtfully. “They’ll always follow after me. If you try to take it off, it emits a shock… It can even kill you…”

Without words, the captain steps forward, lifting both hands to the collar. 

“What are you gonna do?” Dark eyes widen in surprise again, and yet, in them, another emotion bursts over it even brighter - hope.

There is no damn way that Zangyack is going to keep the pirate from this after all they’ve taken, and in the rush of the moment and the swell of this unexplainable feeling, there is only one choice. _Take it with your own hands._ The captain grins and gazes into the other man’s eyes with unspoken promise. “You better hold on.”

“Are you stupid or something?” he tries to ask, but it’s too late, as the captain’s hands have already gripped the collar tightly. An electric current sparks to life, running through his body painfully as he stares into warm and determined eyes. Maybe they are both about to die.

Every muscle in his body feels as if it’s on fire, but it’s still nothing – it’s nothing at fucking all compared to what he’s already lived through – and Red tightens his grip, giving everything he is in an effort take what he wants.

With a sizzle and the faint smell of burning, the collar splits apart and both boys collapse to the ground in a daze. Various fingers and toes still twitching, the newly-freed fugitive gazes up at the hazy, spinning blue sky, gasping for air as the other’s voice narrates to him dreamily. _None of this is real._

“I have a dream…” The captain gazes up at the sky as well, where he knows his ship and the vastness of space wait for them. It feels like the first day he’s been truly alive in a very long time. “…to obtain the greatest treasure in the galaxy. I want to take you on a trip…” His eyes slide over to his current treasure and it’s all too easy in this electrified state of mind to simply spill the truth, the destiny he’s already completely convinced of, “…to make that dream come true.”

The words are ludicrous when they’ve only just met, but the newly-free boy can’t help but take them absolutely seriously. _A treasure hunt…?_ He doesn’t know if he believes in dreams or destiny or fate, but he’s just seen this pirate do the impossible – _best Zangyack._ And even if he’s dreaming now, or dying now, his heart makes the leap that his mind can’t quite process. “I’ll follow you until your dream is accomplished.”

Giving a deep belly laugh, the captain turns his gaze back to the sky, startled by the honest and possibly insane answer. _We’ve only just met, and yet I... I know what I must do._ It’s all too simple, too easy, too good to be true, after everything that’s happened. _Is this part of the Gokaiger’s power?_ “…Marvelous,” he chuckles softly, wiggling his toes as the feeling finally starts to return.

“Are you mocking me?” A note of suspicion enters into Blue’s voice at the delighted tone of the other boy.

“Marvelous. My _name_ – what’s yours?” A little breathless from the laughter, Marvelous can hardly believe his change of fortune, and even if recent betrayal makes him think to doubt it, his intuition is still stronger than the fresh wound.

“Joe… Joe Gibken…” he answers back, rolling the words around in his mind. “Your name… is really… _Marvelous?_ ” Joe pauses to wonder if this is perhaps a fever dream, or maybe, he’s actually truly dead, and this is all some sick joke, or it’s heaven or purgatory--

“You can have this.” Marvelous holds out his hand, a shiny gadget resting in it. “It’s a Mobirate and a Ranger Key…” Joe’s hand stretches out to meet his, their fingers touching lightly for the first time, and the moment of connection feels as sharp as the electricity they’d been fried with moments ago. “These are tools for obtaining that dream.”

Joe has not the slightest idea what this man is talking about or what the strange device is that he’s just been handed, and he can't help but ask, caught between disbelief and instinct, delirium and... “You’re… _serious_ , aren’t you?”

Rolling to his knees, Marvelous crawls the two shuffles between them until he can bend over Joe, looking down into the other boy’s face with an impossibly _serious_ smile, such an impossible contradiction. “If you’re following me in my dream, then you’re joining my crew.”

“…yes?” Joe answers the not-a-question with hesitation, wanting to ask for explanations, but realizing that he doesn’t need them. It’s not even that he doesn’t have anywhere else to go – he doesn’t – or that Marvelous just gave him his freedom – saved his life – but that it simply feels like… choosing what he _wants_ , for once. Looking up into Marvelous’ eyes, Joe can see both the confidence and the genuine moment of hesitation in return, and chastising himself inwardly for making the other worry, repeats himself with more sincerity. “ _Yes_.”

“First lesson in being a pirate, then,” Marvelous answers, his eyes lighting up in relief at the confirmation, his heart picking up pace again as he hovers over Joe, his eyes tracing cheekbones and lips. “Take what you want.” Leaning down, he brushes his lips against the other boy’s, all softness in contrast to the sharp words. 

It’s the first and last thing Joe’s expecting, and maybe this is some sort of crew-joining initiation, but he finds that he doesn’t mind this turn of events either. He should mind, maybe, or maybe he’s lost his mind, but… he doesn’t care. Joe’s free hand lifts slowly, landing on the back of Marvelous’ shaggy head to keep him there so that he can return the kiss. When Marvelous runs his tongue along Joe’s bottom lip questioningly in return, Joe lets the kiss open up, dragging his tongue against the other boy’s in a more heated answer. _This has to be the afterlife._

Their ears pick up the noise in the distance in the same heartbeat, and with a groan of obvious frustration, Marvelous rolls off of Joe and straight to his feet, holding out a hand to the other boy. “Lesson two, Joe Gibken,” he grins cheekily, holding up his Mobirate. “How to transform.”

Joe watches in curiosity as Marvelous holds up an identical gadget to the one he’s been given– _Mobirate_ – in one hand and a small red figure in his other. In the blink of an eye, it’s become a key, and what’s already been a strange day in Joe’s life transcends into the surreal.

“Gokai Change!” With a swish of his jacket, Marvelous turns sharply, inserting the key into the device before turning it and thrusting it out towards Joe with a grin. The power rushes over him in a familiar wave and then he’s looking at Joe’s startled expression through his helmet. “Gokai Red!” he says cheekily with a flip of his collar, his weapons materializing into his hands.

Marvelous goes dashing towards the incoming Goumin with a hearty yell, leaving Joe standing behind him with his own Mobirate, his eyes flicking back and forth between his captain and the device. The figure flips into a key and Joe plunges it into the Mobirate with no hesitation, doing his best to mimic the motions. “Gokai Change!”

The shouted words send a thrill through Marvelous and he ducks a punch, turning and aiming a perfectly angled kick to knock down the enemy in the way of his desired view. And with the Zangyack armor replaced by the sleek blue and black suit, his new treasure… _partner_ … is certainly a beautiful sight to behold.

As he feels the Sentai Power flood him for the first time, Joe knows that _if_ this is real, then his life is never going to be the same. And if it’s all only a dream, then he has the _best_ imagination ever. The weapons appear magically in his hands and he can’t help the giddy laugh that escapes him as he chases after Marvelous, more than ready to kick some Zangyack ass.

Marvelous seems to defy gravity as he spins in mid-air, taking down the line of Goumin separating him from Joe with half a dozen expertly aimed bullets. Not a single one misses. There’s no need to help out Joe, though, as the boy has now become an unstoppable force with the power of the Gokai weapons in his hands. “I’ve got thirteen already, Joe Gibken! You’re behind!”

Joe accepts the challenge with a sharp incline of his head, tucking his gun behind his back as another wave of Goumin approaches. “Not for long.” Slowly drawing his blade in a circle, he prepares his attack, letting his rage at what Zangyack had put him through fill the movement taught to him by his sempai.

The saber slashes once, twice, and Marvelous finds that he can’t bear to look away as the cross of white current ripples outwards, leveling everything in sight. “I concede, though only momentarily, Joe Gibken – in favor of getting the hell out of here.” The weapons vanish and Marvelous punches a series of buttons into his Mobirate.

Though he’s lost count of the number of times he’s been surprised today, Joe is still grateful his helmet hides this particular jaw drop from his captain as the Gokai Galleon soars into view. “You…is that… _yours_?!”

Marvelous grins unabashedly, readying himself for the upwards leap as two chains snap down now, instead of the one he’s been riding alone for too long. There’s a bubble in his chest that’s expanding and rising… “Well… What’s a pirate captain without a pirate ship?”


End file.
